Energy forecasting is a term that refers to “forecasting in the energy industry”. Energy forecasting includes but is not limited to forecasting demand (load) and cost of electricity, fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, coal) and renewable energy sources (RES; hydro, wind, solar). Energy forecasting can also be employed to describe both point and probabilistic (e.g., interval and density).
Load forecasting (electric load forecasting, electric demand forecasting) is a sub-field of energy forecasting. In load forecasting, the term “load” denotes a demand (in kW) or energy (in kWh) and since the magnitude of power and energy is the same for hourly data, usually no distinction is made between demand and energy. Load forecasting involves the accurate prediction of both the magnitudes and geographical locations over the different intervals of the planning horizon. The basic quantity of interest is typically the hourly total system (or zonal) load. However, load forecasting is also concerned with the prediction of hourly, daily, weekly and monthly values of load and of the peak load, or of individual building loads.